The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 4 Prediction of the Siege of Jerusalem

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 4

Prediction of the Siege of Jerusalem

1 “You, son of man, take a brick and set it before you and engrave on it the city of Jerusalem.

2 Then lay siege against it, build a siege ramp against it, raise a siege ramp against it, and set siege ramps all around it.

3 Take an iron pan and set it as an iron wall between you and the city; set your face toward it, and it will be besieged, and you will besiege it; this will be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Lie on your left side and put the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; according to the number of days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquities.

5 For I have appointed for you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when you have fulfilled these, you shall again lie on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; I have given you one day for each year.

7 You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.

8 And behold, I will put ropes upon you, so that you shall not turn from one side to the other, until you have fulfilled the days of your siege.

9 And you shall take wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in a vessel, and make bread of them; according to the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat of it.

10 Your food, which you shall eat, shall be by the weight of twenty shekels a day; you shall eat it at set times.

11 You shall also drink water by measure, a sixth of a hin; you shall drink it at set times.

12 What you eat shall be like barley cakes, and you shall bake it with human dung in their sight.

13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations where they shall be driven.”

14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord, Lord! Behold, my soul has not been defiled, for I have never eaten anything dead or torn by beasts from my youth until now, nor has any abominable flesh entered my mouth.”

15 And he said to me, “See, I have given you cow dung instead of human dung; and you shall prepare your bread with it.”

16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am making the supply of bread unstable in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with disgust; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment;

17 So that bread and water may fail them, and they may be astonished at one another, and they may consume themselves in their iniquities.”